Docile breeds with wildtype coloring?

[lazy gardener]

Never met a RIR male or female that was good for anything other than the stew pot.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I have to disagree on American Games being jerks. For millennia that breed was used in fighting...and a bird that would turn on it's handler to fight would of course lose the intended chicken to chicken fight. I've read some of those gamefowl books that tell you to get rid of any rooster that shows desire to fight you. My personal experience with the breed, is they won't come at you but will actually bite you if you pick some of them up. But with some handling the biters will stop that reaction. My current boy, and American Game has never bitten me, nor has he ever attacked me. He's always been calm around me, walking around my feet when I go through the chicken pen. But that being said, roosters have instincts...sometimes those instincts rise to the surface at an instant. One day a Pigeon flew into the chicken section and my game rooster instantly spun around and was ready for what he thought was a hawk attacking the flock. Anyhow, to each his own of course, but I'd hate to see any breed listed at all when there are individuals of the breed that are good birds. But with American Games, where yes they are a fighting breed...but that's chicken to chicken. Where they select against birds that will fight man.

They don't bother with some of the egg laying breeds where the selection is egg production rather than handling characteristics which are important in gamefowl.
And in egg production, it's all about growing up FAST! And the hormones rage in those breeds in ways that doesn't happen with American Gamefowl. I have yet to see my gamefowl roosters go after my hens the way most roosters do when hormones hit them. Gamefowl are a slower maturing breed without many of the hang ups a lot of current domestic breeds are.

Anyhow, just saw this post and felt moved to comment on this! Have a great day!

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I actually agree with you--on chickens you get from a breeder, with known heritage and selected characteristics.

My best rooster ever was a Production red--and they're noted for being the meanest roosters you can own. The boy in my avatar is my sweetest rooster. He's OEGB, and he lets me pick him up and carry him around. But his father was a first-degree pain in the butt. There are good strains and mean strains, of course, but hatcheries are more accessible and they usually don't breed for temperament the way a good breeder would.

Also, you're raising your birds around adult roosters, right? That suppresses testosterone, to some degree. Even my laying strains don't go after the girls the way they did when I was a kid and we had only one rooster at a time. I prefer to have two roosters--one current breeder, one younger possible replacement. They're much more managable that way.

Of course there are nice individuals of every breed, but you don't want to find out that you picked the bad one by way of your grandkid losing an eye to him. I would not recommend Game chickens to a first-timer who wants a gentle bird.

 

[Cyneswith]

Thanks for the responses! My husband's response to a Partridge Rock was "OOO! I like THAT!" That's probably our top pick.

Lots of food for thought here, too.

 

[Lostchicken]

Never met a RIR male or female that was good for anything other than the stew pot.

I cant believe he has gotten spurred 3 or 4 times and the roo is still around. I have a nice BBQ pit and after the first time he would be on borrowed time.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hubby has good taste. I think the color of Partridge Rock is awesome!

 

[Nodaksnakelover]

Never met a RIR male or female that was good for anything other than the stew pot.

ha ha! exactly how my wife feels, at least about rhode island red roosters!

 

[centrarchid]

Partridge Rock is not wild-type on male or female side with respect to coloration.

 

[Rye]

Wild Type coloration is specific and certainly not partridge.

 

[Cyneswith]

Wild Type coloration is specific and certainly not partridge.

My husband is not a chicken person. He likes my chickens well enough and has preferences should I buy more, but when he says "wild-type" he had no idea it meant a very specific thing, and he has no interest in breeding for anything specific (I do, but I'm a long way off from breeding for anything.)

I didn't know how specific he was myself, and I'm a long way from being able to choose chickens for how pretty they are (otherwise, I'd have a flock comprised of lavenders and silver-laced and be kicking myself because I'm now wanting a speckled Sussex or Jubilee Orpington, Sumatras, all the laced Wyandottes, and all the Easter Eggers. Thank goodness coops cost too much time and money to build too many.)

 

[Dr.Dale]

I didn't know how specific he was myself,

Same thing happened to me. I was looking at Henderson’s chart and the Livestock Conservancy chart trying to pick a single breed for production qualities, but my wife wants pretty birds and variety.